Afghan Detainees Sent Home to Face Closed-Door Trials

KABUL -- Afghan detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being transferred home to face closed-door trials in which they are often denied access to defense attorneys and the U.S. evidence being used against them, according to Afghan officials, lawyers and international rights groups.

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Tina Foster, an American lawyer whose nonprofit organization, the International Justice Network, represents several Afghan detainees, visited Block D this year. One trial she witnessed lasted 15 minutes, she said, and the evidence consisted of little more than a reading from an investigative document. No witnesses were presented, and the panel of judges asked few questions.

"The Afghans are essentially rubber-stamping what the occupiers of their country are suggesting," Foster said. "Even if the U.S. isn't there holding a gun to the judge's head, it doesn't mean that they don't ultimately have a hand in what's happening."